


First Aid

by discordiansamba



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, Not Phantom Planet Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 12:58:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6052443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discordiansamba/pseuds/discordiansamba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She never expected to be helped by a ghost, least of all Phantom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Aid

"I didn't ask you to do this."

"And yet, here we are."

Maddie Fenton, one half of the Fenton Works ghost hunting duo, let out a loud groan, not quite sure if it was because of the throbbing pain in her right side, the fact that she had managed to get herself into this predicament in the first place, or because of the identity of her unlikely rescuer, who she had been hunting only a few minutes ago.

"I don't even know what you're doing all the way out here, Phantom." Maddie groaned again, and this time it was because of the sharp pain in her right side, as she tried to push herself up to a better sitting position. "Shouldn't you be back in Amity Park? You aren't following us, are you?"

Phantom flinched, glowing green eyes flitting away from hers. "N-no, of course not. It's just a coincidence. I heard about the ghost that was causing problems here too."

"What a lousy liar." Maddie said bluntly, reaching up to the back of her head, testing it. She had definitely hit it, but it seemed that she wasn't bleeding at least. She couldn't feel any other signs of internal bleeding, and considering that she had just fallen from several feet in the air, she was considerably well off. The sharp pain in her side and the dull, throbbing pain in the back of her head, however, meant that she really didn't feel like beating around the bush with Amity Park's mysterious ghost boy today.

Phantom merely grimaced, unable to say anything to that. "It looks like d-Jack is chasing after that ghost. I don't think he knows you fell yet, I lost track of him." He changed the topic quickly. "You don't look in all that good of a condition, we should get you back to the lodge where someone can get you some help."

"I don't need help from a ghost." Maddie grimaced, pushing herself to her feet, using the tree behind her to help her steady herself. As soon as she did, however, she realized that this was a terrible mistake, and her right side screamed in protest, causing her to bite down on her lip hard enough to draw blood. Letting out a long, ragged breath, she glanced at the hand she had pressed to her side, dimly realizing that while the back of her head wasn't bleeding, her side was.

Had one of her ribs been fractured? Possibly broken. Now that the shock of the sudden fall was wearing off, breathing became somewhat harder, though bearable. There was a sharp throbbing pain in her left ankle as well, which would make any progress slow going.

"Don't be so stubborn. You're obviously in a lot of pain, and bleeding beside that. Let me take care of you. I know where the lodge is from here." Phantom said, his voice sharp. There was- what, worry, concern, written in his inhuman eyes, and it didn't sit well with Maddie. She didn't like it when he acted like this, defying her expectations, defying everything she knew, everything she had come to believe. No ghost should act this human.

"How do I know you just don't want to finish me off?" Maddie said, glowering at him. Her ectogun had been crushed in the fall, she doubted it was of any use. Her utility belt she could see from here, dangling in a high branch of one of the trees whose branches she had fallen through- there was no way she could reach it. She had nothing left to fight him with, except for her Fenton Machete, which wouldn't do her much good.

"Because like I've told you for the millionth time, I'm not interested in fighting you, much less killing you." Phantom rolled his eyes. "Come on, sit back down. I can give you some first aid before we leave. You can't make it back on your own, can you? I know you don't think all that much of me, but think of Jack and your kids, Maddie. You want to get back to them safe and sound, right?"

Maddie opened her mouth to protest, but grumbled once he mentioned her family. "Fine." She said, slinking back down to a sitting position. "Just this once, ghost. Just this once I'll trust you, but only because I don't have any other choice."

"I'll take that." Phantom gave her a small grin. "But I'm really not your enemy." He said, once again looking away from her- but not because he was lying to her this time. This was something different, she thought. Guilt? Regret? Shame, maybe? It was surprisingly easy to read Phantom's face, even when he had his guard up- it was as if she already had years of doing it.

Well, he did have the same facial structure as her son, so she guessed it wasn't that strange. Phantom's uncanny resemblance to her son had bothered her for quite some time, but after seeing the two of them in the same place she worried a little less about it, figuring it was just some kind of coincidence. After all, it was said that everyone in the world had about three people that looked like them.

Or at least she tried to convince herself of that.

Thinking of Danny, who she and Jack had left behind in the ski lodge that morning, she couldn't help but worry that he was alright by himself. She knew he most likely was, after all, he was sixteen this year, and he wasn't exactly incompetent- secretive and closed off these days, but he seemed to know how to take care of himself pretty well. Perhaps too well, she thought, dimly realizing that he was growing up too fast for her liking, and all while she wasn't watching. She had hoped that this family trip would change that a little, and that she would be able to reconnect with her son somewhat.

Instead she was here, with Phantom, the last person she wanted to be alone with.

Phantom made her think. Maddie enjoyed thinking, she enjoyed challenges- just not the ones that Phantom presented to her. She didn't want to think about them.

A tearing sound broke Maddie out of her thoughts, and she realized that Phantom had formed a knife out of ice, and was using it to strip away at his hazmat suit, before taking the cut off portions and turning them into bandages. She opened her mouth a little, about to tell him that he would freeze that way, but the mother-like lecture died in her throat when she remembered that wasn't a worry. Phantom was already dead after all, the cold wouldn't bother him in the least.

"I'm going to tie it around your waist now, okay? We've got to stop the bleeding." Phantom said, clearly trying to look non-threatening as possible. He didn't have to try very hard, ghost or not, he still looked like a teenage boy.

"Don't treat me like a child. I know how first aid works." Maddie grumbled a little, but moved so that wrapping the impromptu bandages would be easier. Phantom chuckled a little, carefully winding the cloth around her waist, trying it tight. He was skilled at this, she noticed. "You're good at this."

"I've had practice." Phantom said, before flinching, as if that wasn't something he was supposed to say. "No, I mean from when I was alive, that is." Another flicker of his eyes, another lie. Really, what a nonsensical ghost.

"I see." Maddie said. "My left ankle needs to be bound as well." She told him. "I suppose I should apologize about your suit."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Phantom gave her a small grin. "Sa-I mean, someone I know has been hoping to give me an image change for awhile now." He said, those acid green eyes quickly flitting away again. 

Maddie already knew he was about to say 'Sam', though. After all, everyone knew that Danny's goth girl friend was always seen hanging around Phantom. She really needed to have a good talk with that girl sometime. "Well, that's good then." She sighed, shifting her left leg so that he could get to it better. The ghost boy nodded his head, cutting away more of his hazmat suit to create more bandages.

As he wound them around her ankle, tying them once again with a great degree of skill, Maddie carefully observed the ghost boy. She didn't get many chances to see him up close after all, and at the end of the day, even if she didn't like the questions that he presented to her, there was a part of her that Phantom also excited. He was such an enigma, she would go so far as to say that he was a creature entirely of his own class. Her eyes drifted from his snow white hair, which had grown more shaggy over the years, to his acid green eyes, which they did not rest on for very long- she didn't like them after all. They were Phantom's most inhuman part, completely dead, bright and blazing. He didn't express emotion with them, instead relying on the rest of his face to express his feelings.

She shouldn't bothered by a ghost having dead eyes, and yet here she was. Maybe she already knew why they bothered her so, but she had buried that truth so completely that she couldn't recall easily what it was anymore.

Maddie sucked in her breath a little, however, as she moved her eyes away from the ghost's own, drifting down to his pale skin. With half of his hazmat suit torn away from his chest, she could see what looked to be an impressive scar, one that looked like it was caused by getting hit by lightning. It looked painful and yet somehow familiar, as if she had seen something like it before.

"There we go." Phantom grinned at her, completely oblivious to her thoughts. If his own thoughts were more straight, he would realize that he should have torn away from his suit somewhere else, but right now he pretty much wasn't thinking about anything else other than getting his mother to safety. 

It was supposed to be a simple and fun ski trip for him and his family- his parents were supposed to deal with a ghost that had been causing problems around the ski resort in the morning of the first day, and then they would be free to enjoy the slopes for the rest of the weekend. He'd been worried, though, and had tagged along in secret when they left the lodge, just enough so that they wouldn't notice him. Then all hell broke loose when they finally found the ghost, and after losing sight of them for a few moments, he had been drawn here by a scream.

"Now then, let's see about getting you back to the ski lodge, okay?" Phantom pushed aside his thoughts, turning around and kneeling in front of Maddie, glancing back at her. "Don't worry, I won't drop you. You have my solemn word."

"Phantom, I'm not riding on your back!" Maddie almost hissed, her face flushing bright red from more than just the cold. "I'm a grown woman, I can't be seen piggyback riding with a teenage boy."

"This way is the best though." Phantom frowned a little. "I don't exactly want to be seen with you clinging to my back either." Because you're my mother. He couldn't help but think to himself, a faint green blush to his cheeks. "Just put up with it. It's not like anyone from home knows you here."

Grumbling a little, Maddie let out a reluctant sigh, before she limped to her feet somewhat. Carefully she situated herself, wrapping her arms around Phantom's neck, shuddering a little at the contact. He was ice cold, but after a few moments his body temperature slowly seemed to take in some of her own warmth, making it feel less like she was hugging a block of ice. When he reached back and carefully tucked his arms underneath her legs, she found herself clutching to him harder, biting back a yelp as he stood up.

"You're not going to fly?" Maddie asked, steadying herself.

"Ah, yeah. I thought it would be better for me to walk in your condition. I fly pretty fast after all, that would only make things more difficult." Phantom said, glad that he wasn't looking his mother straight in the eyes. Not wanting to waste any time, he got to walking, hearing his footsteps crunch on the snow beneath them. 

In truth he was in no small amount of pain himself, having been slammed against the wall by the ghost in question, causing his entire back to ache badly. He was afraid something pretty bad was broken there, but as long as he remained in ghost form, he could heal it perfectly. Flying back to the lodge while carrying his mother would take too much concentration however, combined with keeping the double he had left back at the lodge in existence, and he didn't want to risk detransforming while in midair with his mother in tow.

Sure, it did hurt to carry her on his back, but he could bear with it. After all, he wasn't exactly completely human, so he could recover from something like this. His mother, however, wouldn't make it to the lodge in one piece, not with her ankle and her side the way that they were. He didn't care for the sound of her breathing either, for that matter.

No matter what kind of pain he was in, he could heal perfectly, as if nothing had ever happened. His mother didn't have that ability- she was only human after all.

"I see." Maddie said simply, frowning a little. Another lie, she didn't even have to see his face to tell this time. She simply sighed, leaning into his back a bit, not knowing what to say to this strange ghost. The sound of crunching snow filled her ears, and as much as she thought she would hate it, being cared for by one of her worst enemies, somehow it was just fine. It didn't feel right to her, but not in the way she expected- rather, she almost felt as if she should be the one to take care of him.

He winced every so often, and bit his lip every few steps, a trickle of ectoplasm leaking out from his lower lip after awhile. He was in pain then, as she suspected. Every time she opened up her mouth to say that she could walk the rest of the way, or that they should rest a little, he would glance back at her and ensure her that it was just a little bit farther. Even though every time he looked back, the light in his blazing eyes seemed to grow somewhat duller, Maddie found herself holding her tongue. She felt a bit silly, after all, she didn't have to worry about him. Phantom was just a ghost after all.

A very human ghost, who looked and acted very much like her son.

It was difficult to say how long Phantom walked in silence, carrying her on his back. It wasn't a heavy silence though, but strangely comfortable. Somehow Phantom didn't really seem like a stranger to her. There was snow, trees, and more trees all around them, and the only noises around them were the faint chirp of birds, and the crunching of snow underneath Phantom's own feat. She was almost surprised when she could see the end of the forest in sight, and the ski lodge come into view in the distance.

"It's okay, I can walk by myself from here." Maddie assured Phantom, finally breaking the silence. "It's not that much further."

"I can carry you-" Phantom began, but she cut him off, shaking her head.

"Like I said, I can't be seen being carried by a teenage boy." Maddie told him. "I'll be fine from here on out."

"If you're sure..." Phantom hesitated, but slowly lowered Maddie to the ground, helping her to get to her feet. In reality, he was a bit grateful, he was starting to feel the pain get to him. Already he felt a million times better by just getting her off his back- it wasn't like carrying her was hard- with his increased strength, she wasn't really that heavy at all, but it sure made his back and shoulders protest.

"I am." Maddie said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I suppose I do have to thank you, Phantom. Maybe I was a bit too hasty in my judgement of you."

"That's what I've been saying all this time." He gave her a small grin. "Now do you understand? I don't want to fight you, or your husband. I don't want to hurt humans, I just want to keep people safe. That's all I've ever wanted. It's just that sometimes it got a little messed up along the way."

"That kind of thing happens, I suppose." Maddie said after a moment, frowning a little. Probably more than anything the real reason that she didn't want to spend anytime with Phantom was because she knew if she did, deep down, that she would realize that she was wrong about him, and that he wasn't the kind of malicious ghost that she had taken him for when she first became aware of his existence. Maddie wasn't stupid after all, she had seen the same heroic acts that Phantom had performed as everyone else had- she was however, pretty stubborn.

But she also couldn't deny what was right in front of her eyes.

"I wonder if that's what's happened with my son." It slipped out really, without her even thinking about it. "It feels like somewhere along the line, I messed up, and now he's drifted away from me."

"That's not true!" Phantom said quickly, all too quickly really. "No, I mean, I don't think that's the case. I don't think you seem like you're a bad mother at any rate?" He said, glancing away from her. "I'm sure that your son is just troubled over teenager stuff, like girls and tests and things. I don't think he's meant to drift away from you, and I don't think it's your fault! So, what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't blame yourself for something like that!"

Maddie couldn't help but laugh a little, at the absurdity of this ghost boy trying to give her advice. But well, she couldn't deny that what he was saying was ultimately true. "Thank you, Phantom. Maybe I'll speak to Jack later, and see to it that we rethink our policy of hunting you on sight."

"Ah, I can't deny that would be nice." Phantom admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Now, you had better hurry on. It seems like your bleeding has already stopped, so that's a relief, but the sooner you get treatment, the better. Are you sure you don't need me to carry you the rest of the way? It's not far, I could even turn the both of us invisible-"

"No, I'll manage. Crossing the entire forest on my own might have proven to be a problem, but I can make it from here." Maddie reassured him. "Another time then." She smiled a little, before turning around. "Ah, that's right, Phantom?" She turned back, before blinking a little, finding herself looking only at the forest behind her. "Gone already huh."

Maddie sighed a little, shaking her head. Hobbling her way towards the ski lodge, she thought about her encounter with Phantom, before her thoughts lingered again over the electrical scar that he had exposed on his chest. She had only seen a part of it, but from some reason she suspected that she knew all of it, exactly how it branched out, and exactly the areas it covered.

Reasoning, logic, and above all, fear had always been working together to keep her from even thinking about the possibility she knew as a mother had always lain in front of her. But maybe it really was time for her to try to do her best to truly reconnect with Danny- and she knew the real reason that she hadn't been able to do so lately was not just because he was distancing himself from her, but because she was distancing herself from him.

Because she didn't want to think about it, because of reasoning, logic, and fear.

Because she didn't want to talk about it, because of reasoning, logic, and fear.

Maybe she should. She would.

Because Maddie knew that the real reason that she knew how Phantom's electrical scar extended outwards was because it was her son's scar. The same one in fact. She didn't need to see the whole thing to know this. She wasn't clear on the details of it though, which was why she knew that she would have to do one thing before rushing down any one avenue of thought.

Finally have an open, honest talk with her son, something she should have done a long time ago.

At least, she thought to herself, grunting a little as a sting of pain went through her, she would once she had gotten some proper medical treatment. At least a hospital stay would give her plenty of time for her to talk with Danny. He would be waiting for her in the lodge, along with Jazz, the two of them probably worried about her right now. One of them was somewhat less worried though, she guessed, knowing already that she was okay.

Maddie could already see Jack in the distance from here, his bright orange jumpsuit standing out in the completely white surroundings. Once he spotted her, he was on her as fast as his legs could carry him, and she found herself all but scooped up in his arms, and carried all the way back to the lodge. Warm blankets were tossed over her and the lodge's doctor was called in, while someone else called for an ambulance. Amongst all the hustle and bustle, she caught Danny lingering in the corner of the room, as if unsure what to do in all of the commotion.

They would talk soon enough. They both knew it.


End file.
